Socks Purr-fect Symbol Of Pet Demographics

February 01, 1997|By Bob Dart, Cox News Service.

WASHINGTON — If the resident pet at your house is a cat, you are part of a changing U.S. demographic.

In the past five years, cats have overtaken dogs in the pet population for the first time in U.S. history, said Franklin M. Loew, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University and an amateur pet historian.

In this emerging feline era, Socks is set for a second term as White House cat in the administration of President Bill Clinton and politicians who are "cat owners will probably find better success at the polls than dog owners, just as Clinton defeated George Bush and Senator (Bob) Dole, both of whom are dog owners," said Loew, tongue in cheek.

For most of the nation's history, dogs had been viewed as "American as apple pie" while cats were regarded as somewhat "subversive," said Loew. Indeed, recall the sneaky Siamese cats in the Disney movie, "Lady and the Tramp," whose stars were dogs.

Presidents from Abraham Lincoln to John F. Kennedy had pet cats at the White House but kept rather quiet about it, said Loew. However, political dogs ranging from Franklin Roosevelt's Fala to Richard Nixon's Checkers to the Bushes' Millie have become household names.

But the balance of pet power has shifted. The nation now has 55 to 60 million cats and 50 to 55 million dogs.

The change in pet preference was caused by some significant shifts in human demographics, Loew said. The population is aging, and cats are easier for the elderly to tend, for example.

"Particularly in the areas where there is snow and ice, taking a dog out every day presents a risk of slipping and injury," said Loew.

"More people live in apartments or condominiums" and don't have room for a dog to roam, and they don't want a pet that might bark at night and disturb neighbors, said Loew. Yuppies or Gen-Xers "want to be able to decide on a Thursday or Friday to go away for the weekend," and it's easier to leave a little more cat food than to find someone to care for a dog.

"The reason cats have gone past dogs (in the pet population) has to do with human lifestyles," said Loew.

Socks is certainly the most prominent presidential cat ever. On the White House's Internet web site, Socks even has his own home page and conducts a tour for kids.

But pets have been part of practically every presidency, said Loew, who researches the subject as a hobby.

"In the early days of the republic, presidents had birds," he said. "Martha Washington had a pet parrot. George, by the way, is said to have hated the parrot. Jefferson kept mockingbirds during his presidency. Dolley Madison owned a parrot that was rescued from the White House during the War of 1812, when the burning was taking place."

President Andrew Jackson's bird never made it to the White House. Before his inauguration, he bought a parrot for his wife, but she died, Loew said.

"The parrot lived on and stayed in Tennessee, eventually outliving even the president. There is an apocryphal story that the bird was taken to Jackson's funeral, where it interrupted the ceremony with a string of profanity."

President Rutherford B. Hayes had a Siamese cat and President William McKinley had an Angora. Amy Carter had a cat named Misty Malarky Ying Yang.

"But dogs have usually been construed as the great American presidential animal," said Loew.

Lyndon B. Johnson had beagles. Ronald Reagan had a King Charles spaniel. George and Barbara Bush had Millie, the White House dog that allegedly authored a best-selling book that "was listed, oddly enough, under non-fiction," recalled Loew.

Neither dogs nor cats are the nation's most populous pets, said Loew. That distinction goes to tropical fish.

Pets are big business, he said. Americans spend about $9 billion a year on pet food -- compared to about $6 billion a year on baby food.